During the hearing of Michael Cohen on Wednesday morning, it became clear early on in the proceedings that the all-encompassing strategy of the GOP would be simply to paint Cohen as untrustworthy — a man whose testimony could not be taken seriously because of his lies in the past. The irony was through the roof from the jump, but apparently lost on Republicans, since the lies that Cohen was convicted of telling were largely to benefit Donald Trump.
In fact, many of the Republicans in attendance seemed little more than confused about what they even wanted to ask Cohen during the hearing, with one Louisiana Republican asking over and over why Cohen hadn’t “turned over” the evidence he brought with him to the hearing to authorities, despite the evidence having been returned to Cohen after being seized (and reviewed) by the FBI.
The Republican Party, as a matter of fact, would have done well to get together and determine how they might answer the question as to why they hired Cohen as the Deputy Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee despite Cohen’s long history of lying having been public knowledge before they hired him.
But one person seemed even more confused than the rest of the spectators following the proceedings: Donald Trump Junior.
Somebody certainly did not send him the memo that Republicans would be laser-focusing on the possibility that Cohen would be lying during this hearing, because as his father’s defenders on the House Oversight Committee tried over and over to paint Cohen as a grifter who would do anything at all to lie and advance his own interests, Don Jr. was busy retweeting someone who held an entirely different view:
Garrett Graff, the former editor of Politico Magazine, remarked on Cohen’s disposition during the hearing — noting that Cohen “is a man with nothing left, with no reason to lie or obfuscate at all.” That’s directly at odds with the fiery rhetoric of the Republicans on the Oversight Committee, specifically Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, whose personal anger over Cohen flipping on Trump has driven them to absolute madness during the hearing.
Somebody probably ought to give Junior a call.
Featured image via screen capture
